Only a fool would be duped into buying one of the thousands of stolen dogs
that are offered for sale online

Gangs of dognappers have been spraying the letter K (for “K-nine”) on the drives of houses in Staffordshire sheltering likely victims. It may sound like a cross between The Hundred and One Dalmatians and The Scarlet Letter, but it is no laughing matter. Last year, 3,500 dogs in Britain were reported stolen. They do not, thank heavens, go to make fur coats, but are sold online to foolish buyers keen to acquire a pedigree dog cut-price. Cocker spaniels have become particularly popular since the Duchess of Cambridge acquired her dog Lupo. But, apart from anything else, a stolen dog will have no pedigree.

It should be remembered that a hero of The Hundred and One Dalmatians was a Staffordshire terrier, that much maligned breed. If only reality followed fiction then the dognappers would learn the meaning of “Beware of the dog” and find themselves the biters bit.